SC to hear Karnataka's plea against direction to issue TDR to royal family heirs
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court agreed to list for hearing on Tuesday a plea of the Karnataka government challenging grant of Transferable Development Rights (TDR) certificates to the legal heirs of the erstwhile Mysore royal family in connection with the acquisition of 15 acres of Bangalore Palace Grounds.
Initially, a bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state government, as to how it can review the order passed by another bench.
On May 22, another bench comprising Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar had directed the Karnataka government to issue TDR certificates worth Rs 3,011 crore to the royal heirs in a contempt proceeding.
However, the senior lawyer said the TDR provision, introduced through a 2004 amendment to the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, cannot be applied retrospectively to land acquired in 1996 under the Bangalore Palace (Acquisition and Transfer) Act.
He said the 15 acres were acquired before the TDR provision existed, and that any compensation was already settled under the original Act.
“This acquisition occurred under a 1996 law, and compensation of Rs 11 crore was fixed. The concept of TDR didn’t exist at that time. Section 14B, which permits TDR, was introduced only in 2004, and applies only where landowners voluntarily surrender their land and not where the State acquires it compulsorily,” he said.
The dispute dates back to 1997, when the royal family challenged the validity of the 1996 Act before the top court and the plea is still pending.
Meanwhile, the state government sought to develop a road on a portion of the palace grounds, which triggered a series of litigations and ultimately led to the contempt petitions.
The senior lawyer raised concerns about the contempt judgment, arguing that the bench failed to address his legal objections under Section 14B.
“You cannot amend a final judgment or introduce new rights via a contempt proceeding,” he said.
The bench questioned whether the current bench could “sit in appeal” over the order passed by a coordinate bench.
Sibal clarified that the state government was not seeking to overturn the earlier order, but only to ensure that its legal concerns are properly addressed within the framework of the pending appeal.
TDR certificates are a mechanism used in land acquisition to compensate landowners when their property is taken for public projects like road widening or infrastructure development.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
